spaceflight – Page 1225 – Behind The Black

ESA is revamping how it builds rockets in order to compete with SpaceX.

July 13, 2012 11:28 pm Robert Zimmerman

The competition heats up: ESA is revamping how it builds rockets in order to compete with SpaceX.

ESA officials have been spooked by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., which has demonstrated its technical prowess with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo vehicle to the international space station. SpaceX officials say one of the keys to its success is that Falcon 9 is built in one factory owned by SpaceX.

Read the whole thing. The way ESA builds the Ariane rocket requires too many participants (what we in the U.S. call pork), raising its cost. ESA is now abandoning that approach to cut costs and thus compete with SpaceX.

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Bad training of the astronauts led to the failure of the student experiments recently on ISS.

July 13, 2012 11:25 pm Robert Zimmerman

Bad training of the ISS astronauts by the company supplying the experiments was the reason the student experiments were never turned on.

“Previous crews were given on the ground review and personal interaction prior to launch,” Manber said. “For this mission, the astronaut received hardware training solely via video while on the space station. Clearly, there was a miscommunication resulting from the video instruction.”

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Poland has been accepted as a member of the European Space Agency.

July 13, 2012 1:23 pm Robert Zimmerman

The new colonial movement: Poland today was accepted as a member of the European Space Agency.

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Researchers have concluded that the dust on the Moon’s surface there pose serious health risks for lunar colonists.

July 12, 2012 9:19 am Robert Zimmerman

Researchers have concluded that the dust on the Moon’s surface might pose serious health risks for lunar colonists.

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The Virginia spaceport at Wallops Island is on schedule to hand control of its launchpad sometime this month so that Orbital Sciences can begin ground tests of its Antares rocket.

July 11, 2012 5:14 pm Robert Zimmerman

The Virginia spaceport at Wallops Island is on schedule later this month to hand control of its launchpad over to Orbital Sciences so it can begin ground tests of its Antares rocket.

The irony of this press release story is that Orbital has actually been running things, as it took over prepping the launchpad last year when the spaceport was unable to handle it.

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Sierra Nevada has successfully completed testing of the nose landing gear for its Dream Chaser manned reusable spacecraft.

July 11, 2012 5:07 pm Robert Zimmerman

The competition heats up: Sierra Nevada has successfully completed testing of the nose landing gear for its Dream Chaser manned reusable spacecraft.

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From Virgin Galactic come two announcements today

July 11, 2012 8:59 am Robert Zimmerman

The competition heats up: From Virgin Galactic come two announcements today:

The second is really the big news, especially as it appears they already have some customers.

LauncherOne will be a two-stage vehicle capable of carrying up to 500 pounds (225 kilograms) to orbit for prices below $10 million. The rocket will be launched from Virgin Galactic’s proven WhiteKnightTwo, the uniquely capable aircraft also designed to carry SpaceShipTwo aloft to begin her suborbital missions. Thanks to the extreme flexibility of air launch, Virgin Galactic’s customers will enjoy reduced infrastructure costs in addition to the wide range of possible launch locations tailored to individual mission requirements and weather conditions. Branson and other senior executives announced that work has already begun on the vehicle.

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A student experiment that was successfully flown up and down to ISS by Dragon is apparently a failure because no one on ISS ever turned it on.

July 10, 2012 8:46 am Robert Zimmerman

A student experiment — successfully flown up and down to ISS by Dragon — is apparently a failure because no one on ISS ever turned it on.

Per instructions from NanoRacks, the Houston company that works with NASA to integrate such deliveries, Warren packed his worms, or C. elegans, into a glass ampule, or tube, then packed that tube into a larger one containing a liquid “growth medium” for the worms. An astronaut aboard the space station was to crack the outer ampule in a way that would release the worms into the surrounding liquid. It never happened.

The article is very diplomatic about this, but it is very clear that either the astronauts on ISS screwed up, or NASA did by not giving them clear instructions.

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Cassini has shifted its orbit so that it can look down on Saturn and its rings.

July 9, 2012 4:26 pm Robert Zimmerman

Saturn from above: Cassini has shifted its orbit so that it can look down on Saturn and its rings.

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Scientists can now use neutron detectors at the south pole to warn astronauts on ISS of incoming dangerous radiation.

July 6, 2012 12:02 pm Robert Zimmerman

Scientists can now use neutron detectors at the south pole to warn astronauts on ISS of incoming dangerous radiation.

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A European Space Agency (ESA) working group has recommended the agency focus its next manned space project on redesigning its now abandoned ATV cargo ship as a service module for the U.S.’s Orion capsule.

July 6, 2012 9:14 am Robert Zimmerman

Birds of a feather: A European Space Agency (ESA) working group has recommended the agency focus its next manned space project on redesigning its now abandoned ATV cargo ship as a service module for the U.S.’s Orion capsule.

Believe it or not, this is how ESA plans to pay for its use of ISS from 2017 to 2020, by abandoning the ATV (which supplies ISS) and building a service module for a capsule that might never launch and is not intended to go to ISS anyway.

But then, it isn’t surprising, coming from a government agency.

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